Dr Irene Broer

As a researcher at the intersection of science, media, and politics, Irene Broer investigates the digital transformation and its impact on science communication. Her research focuses on the development of new organisational forms and communication practices that facilitate the exchange of scientific knowledge in a networked society. She also explores how innovative technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), can support these processes. Her methodological emphasis lies on applied, ethnographic, and participatory research designs.

Research Work

At the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), Irene Broer serves as a Senior Researcher within the Knowledge and Society research programme. In the Organisational Resilience and Creativity project, she is investigating the connections between educational technologies, creativity and the resilience of universities to future challenges.

Additionally, Irene Broer works as a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Communication Science at the Technical University of Braunschweig. There, she explores the potentials, risks, and goals of developing communicative artificial intelligence for use in science communication.

From 2018 to 2024, Irene Broer served as a researcher at the Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans Bredow Institute, working on various externally funded projects. This included multiple collaborations with HIIG, such as the Crisis Science Project (CRISP) funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, aimed at improving dialogue and collaboration between science and politics. She also contributed to the subsequent project REPOD (2023-2024), which focused on researching and developing a repository for scientific advisory documents.

Academic Career

Irene Broer earned her PhD in Journalism and Communication Science from the University of Hamburg. Her dissertation was based on an ethnography of the Science Media Center Germany, where she used the concept of brokerage to describe the various roles science communicators can assume. Her thesis defence was awarded “summa cum laude.” Previously, Irene Broer completed a joint Master of Arts in Journalism, Media, and Globalisation at Aarhus University and the University of Hamburg. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Cultural Anthropology from Utrecht University.